Bandage for joint areas



June 5, 1956 J. M. coATEs 2,748,766

BANDAGE FOR JOINT AREAS Filed Dec. 25, 1953 INVENTOR. dohw M. Con 75s W WMA United States Patent BANDAGE FOR JOINT AREAS John M. Coates, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Medical g abrics Co., Inc., Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New ersey Application December 23, 1953, Serial No. 399,869

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-156) The present invention deals with an adhesive bandage for joint. areas and more particularly with an adhesive bandage for knuckle areas of the human hand.

Adhesive bandages of the type generally employed for the less serious wounds, e. g. finger wounds, comprise a strip of cloth fabric having a surface thereof coated with adhesive material, an absorbent pad located substantially centrally of the coated surface, and a covering of substantially stifi gauze material such as crinoline over the coated and padded surface.

Although the use of such bandages is advantageous in the treatment of, for example, finger cuts or other small skin lacerations, there are certain disadvantages and shortcomings encountered in their application and use for certain kinds of wounds. For example, in the case of knuckle wounds, or ankle wounds, or wounds on other body joint areas, the bandage retards and limits movement of the skin at such joint areas, e. g. knuckles of the hand, and consequently interferes with movement of the skin especially at such areas near the knuckle joints so that there is an interference with the dexterity of finger movement.

Furthermore, since the knuckle joints are protuberant when the hand is closed and substantially large in relation to the conventional type of bandages used for application thereto, there are conditions where such strip type bandages are inadequate to efliciently cover the wounded area and adjacent articulation areas.

Moreover, since the knuckle joints are protuberant when the hand is closed, an opening of the hand causes the protective pad to lift up, as by creasing, and disengage from the wound unless the bandage is applied slantwise so that one of the adhesive ends is caused to adhere between the fingers and about the underside of the finger, which interferes with the flexing of the finger since a condition occurs where the bandage bulges between the fingers and the adhesive end on the underside of the finger is caused to contact the finger crease between the knuckle and the next joint. This disadvantage is especially pronounced when a strip sufliciently wide is used to adequately cover the knuckle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an adhesive bandage for joint areas which is sufficiently large to adequately cover a wounded joint area and which allows substantial freedom of articulation and skin movement. It is another object of the present invention to provide an adhesive bandage for knuckle areas which is sufficiently large to cover the knuckle and which allows substantial freedom of finger movement. Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the description hereinafter following and the drawings forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a top view of the bandage according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the bandage,

Fig. 3 illustrates an upper side applied view of the bandage, and

2,748,766 Patented June 5, 1956 Fig. 4 illustrates an under side applied view of the bandage.

The present invention deals with an elastic adhesive bandage for joint areas such as knuckle areas and comprises essentially an elastic fabric having a surface thereof coated with an adhesive substance, an absorbent pad located substantially centrally of the coated surface, and a covering of a substantially stiff gauze material such as crinoline over the coated and padded surface, and which bandage is structurally adapted to cover a substantially large area of a joint or knuckle and to adhere to the skin areas surrounding the joint or knuckle in such manner as to render a freedom of movement for the skin adjacent the joint or knuckle and a freedom of articulation for the joint or knuckle.

. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the bandage comprises an elastic strip of cloth 1 made from an elastic fabric manufactured by a weaving or knitting process in the form of a sheet or as an elastic knitted product of circular knitting machines, tricot machines, etc., and preferably an elastic woven fabric having elastic warp yarns and non-elastic filler or weft yarns, and such strip having a substantially large central or base portion 2 from which extends a pair of substantially similar or identical narrow parallel legs 3 and 4 in one direction and another pair of substantially similar or identical narrow parallel legs 5 and 6 extending in the opposite direction. The said legs may be provided by cutting a U-shaped notch having parallel sides into the ends of a strip bandage of substantial width after such bandage has been completed as far as all of the other bandage components are concerned, i. e. the adhesive coating 7, the absorbent pad 8 and the gauze 9 covering the adhesive coating and pad, which gauze consists of two strips of gauze caused to overlap each other over the pad 8 for purpose of removal thereof prior to applying the adhesive layer to the skin.

Although the entire strip is elastic, preferably elastic along its length, it is apparent that the large central portion 2 is less elastic than the legs 3, 4, 5 and 6 since the weft yarns across the width of the strip, especially when they are non-elastic, resist, at least to some extent, the elongation of such central portion. The addition of the adhesive 7 and the absorbent pad 8 to such central portion further resists elongation to such an extent that such central portion is rendered longitudinally substantially less elastic than the legs which are non-restricted in this regard. The result is the pad 8 is substantially stationary when applied to a wound. Consequently, the legs 3, 4, 5 and 6 in view of their narrowness compared with the wide central portion 2 have greater elasticity so that the bandage thereby provided is a combination of substantially highly elastic similar narrow legs extending from a less elastic body portion 2. This difference in elasticity is quite important in that when the legs are under elongation and constriction forces caused by movement, such elongation and constriction are not reflected to the body portion 2 in sufiicient degree to cause a displacement of the pad 8 from the wound over which it is applied. Likewise, when a knuckle over which the pad 8 is applied is articulated, such articulation does not result in an uncomfortable stretching of the skin to which the legs are adhered. Furthermore, since the legs 3, 4, 5 and 6 are considerably narrower than the body portion 2 and such legs being laterally spaced from each other rearwardly of the knuckle as shown by Fig. 3, there is a minimum of adhesive contact surface With the skin providing substantially normal skin movement. Moreover, it is structurally critical that each pair of legs consists of two similar parallel legs because otherwise it would be practically impossible to have the legs 5 and 6 form a narrow band around the underside of the finger, as illustrated by Fig. 4, and free of the finger crease between the palm of the hand and such finger in which case dexterity of movement is not interfered with. Otherwise there would be either a bulging of'the legs 5 and 6 between the fingers or the legs 5 and 6 would be caused to contact a greater finger skin area and interfere with finger movement.

What I claim is:

1. An adhesive bandage for joints comprising an elastic strip adhesively coated on one side, a pad centrally positioned on the coated side of the strip and retarding the elasticity of that portion to maintain the pad substantially stationary when applied to a wound, and sub stantially U-shaped notches in the end portions of said strip forming parallel end leg portions with the inner and outer edges of said leg portions being substantially parallel and having a high degree of elasticity and ma neuverability to form elastic anchors when engaged against the skin adjacent a joint to secure the pad in stationary position without disturbing the smoothness of the strip engagement and permitting free movement of the skin between the anchoring leg portions.

2. An adhesive bandage for joints comprising a strip formed of woven cloth having elastic warp yarns longi tudinaily of said strip and non-elastic weft yarns laterally thereof, said strip being adhesively coated on one Side, a pad centrally positioned on the coated side of the strip and retarding the elasticity of that portion to maintain the pad substantially stationary when applied to a wound, and substantially U-shaped notches in the end portions of said strip forming parallel end leg portions with the inner and outer edges of said leg portions being substantially parallel and having a high degree of clasticity and maneuverability to form elastic anchors when engaged against the skin adjacent a joint to secure the pad in stationary position without disturbing the smoothness of the strip engagement and permitting free movement of the skin between the anchoring leg portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,054,768 Gale Sept. 15, 1936 2,253,108 Casey Aug. 19, 1941 2,273,964 Kalbach Feb. 24, 1942 2,342,300 Penska Feb. 22, 1944 2,510,780 Hatkofi June 6, 1950 2,646,040 Stanton July 21, 1953 

